First emission-free boat to travel around the world

The Energy Observer project aims to show the potential of renewable energies through a self-sufficient boat.

The project turned a race boat into a green vessel that will begin a six-year sojourn around the world later this spring.

The Energy Observer observer boat plans to have 101 stops and circumnavigate 50 countries – whilst being powered by sun, wind, and self-generated hydrogen. Conceived by skippers Frederic Dahirel and Victorien Erussard in 2015, the project is determined to display the success of alternative energy sources.

According to the Associated Press (AP), Erussard said: “Building a self-sufficient boat could have seemed utopian, but this is going to be an incredible vessel. It’s very promising for the future.”

The project was presented at the UNESCO headquarters, with French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot in attendance. “This boat will demonstrate that there are many solutions for energetic transition,” Hulot told AP news. “All solutions are within nature.”

As sun and wind energies are gaining more attention as alternative sources, the makers of Energy Observer also want to highlight the technology of self-generated hydrogen production through electrolysis of the sea water.